New Tactic of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation: Russia strikes Ukraine's power plants with high accuracy - FT

According to the newspaper, recently Russian missiles have been used to accurately damage power plants located outside the capital, where there is a stronger air defense system. Thus, from March 22 to March 29, Russia attacked seven thermal power plants and two hydroelectric power plants, all of them were in regions where protection is less efficient than in Kiev, the publication notes.

At the same time, the Kharkiv region, adjacent to the Russian border, was one of the main goals, with several stations that were almost completely destroyed. Maxim Timchenko, the head of DTEK, noted that the loss from these attacks is serious and the recovery will require considerable effort. Several DTEK thermal stations were forced to stop work, which led to the loss of about 80% of generated energy.

Timchenko reported that there were plans to restore the operation of some substations and large power plants that have not been completely destroyed. Plans to restore the work as many stations as possible by October 2024. "In the absence of further attacks of at least 50 percent of the damaged units will be reconnected to the network," Timchenko said.

Ukraine is focused on the restoration of damaged objects before winter, but it is a huge challenge, especially given the new tactics of Russia, which includes the use of high -precision missiles. However, thanks to energy imports from the European Union and the use of renewable energy sources, Ukraine has been able to mitigate the effects of attacks and avoid mass disconnections of electricity.

If it was not for the warm weather, imports of energy from the EU and an increase in renewable energy production, Ukraine would have encountered massive electricity, as it happened in 2022-2023, Timchenko added. Nevertheless, the threat from Russia remains high, and Ukrainian officials have to constantly adapt to new methods of attacks.

According to Andrei Gersa, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Ukraine for Energy and Utilities, Russia continues to use both drones and expensive missiles, and can make another series of attacks in the next weeks. According to a representative of military intelligence Andriy Chernyak, the Russian Federation still uses drones in large quantities, but as a cheaper way to hit other parts of the energy system, such as transformers.

"We expected the attack in early winter, but now we see that the missiles they used as soon as they were made," Chernyak said. According to him, in Russia there are enough rockets for another or two major attacks in the next weeks. Increasing the number of renewable energy sources can help Ukraine in the long run. Wind and solar power plants are scattered in the country, which makes it impossible to strike the same electricity production, Timchenko added.